News

Berkeley police announced this afternoon that another person has been charged in the October 26 shooting of Gary Ferguson, Jr. on Sacramento Street. The Alameda County District Attorney charged Coleon Lee Carroll, 20 years old, with murder and attempted murder last Friday, October 29. Carroll had been arrested in Antioch on October 27 on an unrelated warrant by Berkeley and Oakland police officers.
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We’re writing to let you know that District 7 Councilmember Kriss Worthington is our hero! Early last year, he helped us save our family business, Ashby Flowers, on the corner of Telegraph and Ashby, which has been serving the Berkeley area for over fifty years (we’ve owned it since 1995).
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The most critical East Bay election this year is Richmond’s city race where voters will decide whom to elect for city council and mayor and whether to support Measure U, the Richmond Citizen’s Advisory vote to approve a casino at Point Molate. There are few local races that will have broader implications for the future of Richmond, our East Bay shoreline and the greater bayshore environment.
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It seems likely that an amusing story written by a neighbor of mine on the Berkeleyside blog about who's winning the battle for District 8 lawn signs has annoyed someone. Today a sticker saying “NIMBY ROBOT SAYS” was slapped across the “Stewart Jones for District 8 Councilman” sign in front of my house on Ashby. This is possibly the same person responsible for a bit of sophomoric video humor now circulating on the internet featuring a robot with an inexplicable British accent and poor-quality text-to-speech pronunciation rules. Might also be the same thugs who are stealing all the “No on R” signs from people’s yards.
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This election in the City of Albany during these challenging economic times is really about effective governing. That point is obscured by what amounts to a grudge match by the pro-waterfront mall faction (candidates Papalia and O’Keefe) that lost the election last time around to the environmentalists (current incumbents Atkinson and Wile).
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The Berkeley City Council heard from the heads of all of the city's public service departments during Tuesday evening's work session on the citywide work plan. Heads of the Parks, Recreation, and Waterfront, Police, Fire, Health Services, Public works, and other departments came forward and gave brief presentations regarding their department's significance, needs, and what they are doing to increase efficiency amidst budget difficulties. This was the first in a series of work sessions to occur in the next six months in the process of coming up with a budget for Fiscal Years 2012 and 2013. In the interest of time, the council struggled to hold their questions throughout this work session, but they will have the chance to give feedback on the work plan in December.
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Shortly before 9 AM a rapid volley of shots rang out on Sacramento Street near Russell. Eyewitnesses report seeing two shooters appear from behind an alley, brandishing guns. A crowd scattered as the shooting took place. Witnesses described the shooters as young black males, possibly teenagers, wearing black hoodies. Police now confirm that one victim--identified by a neighbor as Gary Ferguson--has died. Late this afternoon the word on the street was that the second victim, identified only as "Larry", had also died in the hospital, but Berkeley police have not confirmed this rumor.
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As a trial balloon to increase student use of people's Park, the ASUC threw what they called a "PALOOZA" before the Arizona State vs. Cal. football game Saturday morning, but it came off as more of a bomb-a-looza.
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It promised to be a perfect weekend getaway, the Emeryville Senior Center overnight trip to Clear Lake this past Saturday and Sunday. Having heard so much about Clear Lake, I happily signed up for the trip and was probably the first one to board the Center's mini van, "Go Van Go." However, looking over the itinerary prepared by our host/drivers, Joe and Joanne Melancon, I must confess my heart sank when I discovered that we would be stopping at four casinos! If I had only read the announcement of the trip more thoroughly, I might have surmised that this was a tour for gamblers. "Robinson's Rancheria Casino" was surely a tip-off; did I think this was an ice cream parlor?
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Measure R is a Trojan Horse that will bring many, many more enormous skyscrapers to downtown Berkeley. It is the nature of development to always push the boundaries. Every building allowed is far more valuable when it's much larger.
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“Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone?” asks the Joni Mitchell song. In my neighborhood we did the song in reverse and unpaved a parking lot to recreate a bit of paradise in the form of Halcyon Commons. I hope my neighbors will heed the song’s message as they cast their ballots.
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As current School Board President, what distinguishes me from the other candidates is that I have proven leadership in what it takes to advance student achievement in these difficult economic times. During my tenure and leadership, through careful fiscal oversight and fostering of creative partnerships with the City and other public as well as non-profit agencies (and with the continued support of our community school taxes), the School District has maintained a balanced budget every year for the past four years, while retaining small class sizes; art and music programs; and student support services.
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I’d like to share with Berkeley Daily Planet readers information regarding George Perezvelez’s candidacy for the City of Berkeley’s Rent Stabilization Board (including why I encourage them to support George).
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The Berkeley Student Cooperative (BSC) is hosting a second City Council Candidates Forum—this time for Berkeley’s 8th district race— at Andres Castro Arms, 2310 Prospect St., on October 27 at 7:00 p.m. The event is open to the public.
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The BUSD could certainly use some tax money to rehabilitate facilities, but the Measure I bond initiative is yet another foray of the City of Berkeley and BUSD into excessive bond debt and overspending for every bolt,bag of cement and piece of lumber spent. It is amazingly poorly designed request for a huge sum of money with little definition of the projects.
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Next week, voters in Berkeley will weigh in on two medical cannabis related measures, S and T. Measure T allows for an additional dispensary, 6 licensed cultivation sites, 200 square feet of grow space per patient in a residential area, and calls for the re-constitution of the Medical Cannabis Commission. As the Chairwoman of the Commission, I think it is helpful to understand the process by which Measure T came about. Two years ago, shortly after the formation of the Commission, it became obvious that there are far more stakeholders in this field than the dispensaries, who were the only stakeholders represented on the Commission under Measure JJ. An open discussion of cultivation standards and practices (cultivating in an appropriate area and providing safe medicine to patients, etc.) was hindered by the lack of recognition of those who are growing the medicine. Additionally, we discovered the large number of residential cultivation sites in Berkeley, some providing medicine to the resident only, and some providing medicine to several patients via a collective garden. The realization that the current policies really only addressed activities in and by dispensaries was the impetus for the Commission to begin work on legislation to recognize and regulate cultivation, ensure that the medical cannabis patient population was getting their needs met, and providing guidelines for those who wish to cultivate in their residence.
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Perhaps no one worked harder than I did to elect Atkinson and Wile in 2006. But their actions since then eroded the trust I once had. They joined with Bob Lieber to vote as a Bloc of 3 more than 90%+ percent of the time.
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Artist Rosalie Ann Cassell, a longtime resident of Berkeley and teacher at Berkeley City College for 25 years, died on September 27 at age 63 after a brave battle with cancer, her partner John McCord at her side.
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Opinion

Editorials

If incumbent Berkeley Councilmember Kriss Worthington loses this election, I’ll have to finally conclude that Telegraph Avenue deserves what it gets. Candidates have been running against Telegraph Avenue for thirty years, and it still makes no sense to do so.
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The Editor's Back Fence

Okay, folks, it’s crunch time. Those of you who are sure of what you’re doing might already have voted, along with a lot of others who just like to get it out of the way. But for anyone who’s still agonizing about how to vote, Hurry Up, Please—It’s Time.

Check out these cartoons, and then send your email vote for the best one to election@berkeleydailyplanet.com Voting will be open through election day, November 2, and the winner will be announced on November 3. Click here to print all 5 cartoons on one page. Then you can give them out to others or post in a public place to attract new voters. [Note: we made a mistake with the link when we first posted this, so your email might have bounced. Please try again if you voted early.]
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Ladies and Gentlemen, sharpen your pencils. The second report on who's paying for Yes on Measure R has been filed. No, it's not the Sierra Club. Here's a couple of easy ones: PG&E is in for $5,000, Patrick Kennedy for $1,000. Who can identify the rest? The first completed game card wins a free subscription to the Berkeley Daily Planet.
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Public Comment

In less than a week, several young black men have been arrested for major crimes and/or slain on the streets of Berkeley. While this is a regular occurrence in nearby Oakland and Richmond, Berkeley has apparently caught the virus of a rapidly deteriorating socio-economic order. Last week four young men we are familiar with were arrested for armed robbery. Since they had the bright idea to rob white people, their crimes will probably be enhanced, maybe even considered a hate crime. They were students of teachers at Berkeley Continuation High School or B-Tech and known by their teachers as very nice young men. The teachers even wrote positive comments about them in the San Francisco Chronicle after reading comments from whites describing them as black beasts who should be put under the jail.
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Friday October 15, 2010, a few people received notice (just 3 days after receiving a notice that the Board of Trustees regular meeting of October 13th was cancelled) that BOLT would hold a special meeting Monday October 18, 2010 with the only Action Item: “A. Contract: BIBLIOTECA, Inc., Self-Check…” This is a contract to replace the five year old $2.5 million* Checkpoint Radio Frequency I.D. (RFID) system with a new RFID self-check system for $447,000 and growing.
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Columns

In an Oct. 1, statement, the U.S. government acknowledged that between 1946 and 1948, U.S. Public Health Service physicians deliberately infected at least 696 Guatemalans with syphilis and gonorrhea without their knowledge or consent to study the effect of venereal disease. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius formally apologized for the "abhorrent" and "clearly unethical" medical experiments. And on October 2, President Barack Obama apologized to his Guatemalan counterpart and vowed that all human medical studies conducted today will be held to exacting U.S. and international legal and ethical standards.
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“Troops were poised to retake the most nefarious area of all, the horn of Panjwai, an area 19 miles long and 6 miles wide where the Taliban had built up a redoubt of command posts, courts and mined areas over the last four years. Afghan and American troops mounted an airborne assault into the region last weekend.”—New York Times, 10.21.10
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Every day, 10,000 US women are assaulted by their husband or boyfriend. Most often they do not leave and the violence continues; psychologists call it battered women’s syndrome. On November 2nd, we’re likely to see the political counterpart, where American voters – despite a history of egregious Republican abuse – decide to give the Grand Old Party one more chance.
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We’re accustomed to seeing crows on the Derby Street athletic field, just hanging around waiting for the crowball game to start. In the last few months they’ve been joined by variable numbers of Canada geese. My assumption has been that the geese are part of the local resident population, maybe the ones that frequent Golden Gate Fields and the neighborhood of the Gill Tract.
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"35TH ANNUAL SF OPEN STUDIOS," -- through Oct. 31. More than 800 artists will open their studio doors to the public during this month-long event taking place throughout the city, with different areas participating on different weekends. See website for complete details.
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BEACH BLANKET BABYLON This long-running musical follows Snow White as she sings and dances her way around the world in search of her prince. Along the way she encounters many of the personalities in today's headlines, including Nancy Pelosi, Condoleezza Rice, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Harry Potter, Tiger Woods, Oprah Winfrey, Britney Spears, Dianne Feinstein, Barbara Boxer, Hillary Clinton, George and Laura Bush, Michael Jackson, Martha Stewart, Tom Cruise, Angelina, characters from Brokeback Mountain and Paris Hilton. Persons under 21 are not admitted to evening performances, but are welcome to Sunday matinees.
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—Those Dazzling Divas are at it again! Pamela Connelly, Kathleen Moss and Eliza O'Malley,with Hadley McCarroll on piano, this time at that great old standby, Le Bateau Ivre, at featuring, for Halloween, the witches' number, from Purcell's Dido & Aeneas, as well as arias, duets and trios from "Puccini, Verdi, Bellini, Bizet, Delibres—& more!" No cover. Wednesday October 27th 7-9pm, dinner seating from 5. 2629 Telegraph Ave (near Andronico’s)
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"35TH ANNUAL SF OPEN STUDIOS," -- through Oct. 31. More than 800 artists will open their studio doors to the public during this month-long event taking place throughout the city, with different areas participating on different weekends. See website for complete details.
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AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSEUM AND LIBRARY AT OAKLAND ongoing. The Oakland Public Library's museum is designed to discover, preserve, interpret and share the cultural and historical experiences of African Americans in California and the West. In addition, a three-panel mural is on permanent display.
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ASIAN ART MUSEUM OF SAN FRANCISCO The Asian Art Museum-Chon-Moon Lee Center for Asian Art and Culture recently unveiled its new building in San Francisco's Civic Center. The building, the former San Francisco Public Library, has been completely retrofitted and rebuilt to house San Francisco's significant collection of Asian treasures. The museum offers complimentary audio tours of the museum's collection galleries. "In a New Light," ongoing. There are some 2,500 works displayed in the museum's new galleries. They cover all the major cultures of Asia and include Indian stone sculptures, intricately carved Chinese jades, Korean paintings, Tibetan thanksgas, Cambodian Buddhas, Islamic manuscripts and Japanese basketry and kimonos.
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ARDENWOOD HISTORIC FARM Ardenwood farm is a working farm that dates back to the time of the Patterson Ranch, a 19th-century estate with a mansion and Victorian Gardens. Today, the farm still practices farming techniques from the 1870s. Unless otherwise noted, programs are free with regular admission.
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ARDENWOOD HISTORIC FARM ongoing. Ardenwood farm is a working farm that dates back to the time of the Patterson Ranch, a 19th-century estate with a mansion and Victorian Gardens. Today, the farm still practices farming techniques from the 1870s. Unless otherwise noted, programs are free with regular admission.
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